Nosocomial infections, also called hospital acquired infections, have become a large problem in modern healthcare. Such infections include e.g. urinary infections, surgical site infections, pneumonia, and bacteraemia. These infections are important causes of morbidity and mortality and form a significant burden for healthcare systems all over the world.
A major focus for hospitals and other healthcare institutions is therefore to reduce or eliminate such hospital acquired infections. One strategy for preventing hospital acquired infections is to limit transmission of organisms between patients in direct patient care through e.g. adequate handwashing, glove use, and laundry of healthcare garments. Regular washing of healthcare garments, i.e. garments worn by healthcare staff, using a correct washing cycle, is of great importance for prevention of hospital acquired infections. For example, it is often desirable that healthcare garments are washed after one work shift. However, many hospitals have identified problems associated with laundry, such as e.g. difficulties in ensuring that the healthcare garments are washed after each work shift instead of being stored until the next work shift and reused.